Motoi Yamamoto Solo Exhibition

To the White Sea

Dates: September 19 (Sat) – November 15 (Sun), 2026

Opening Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Last admission: 4:30 PM)

Closed: Mondays

• Open on September 21 and October 12 (national holidays); closed on October 13 instead.
• Open until 8:00 PM on October 17 in conjunction with the Onomichi Akari Festival.

Venue: Onomichi City Museum of Art (Nishitsuchido-cho, Onomichi, Hiroshima) Google Maps

Memory Returns to the White Sea

Though invisible, time quietly accumulates, leaving traces within us.

To the White Sea is a retrospective exhibition presented in the artist’s hometown of Onomichi, looking back on nearly three decades of Motoi Yamamoto’s exploration of memory and time.

The exhibition will feature works ranging from his early oil paintings to large-scale salt installations, as well as a reconstructed installation based on a work destroyed in the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Together, these works invite visitors to experience the layered accumulation of memory through space.

Related Events

Commemorative Lecture

Creating So That We Do Not Forget

Date & Time: Saturday, September 19, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Venue: 2F Lobby, Onomichi City Museum of Art

• Free to attend
• No reservation required
• Exhibition admission required

Live Art Creation

Dates: September 19 (Sat) – 22 (Tue, National Holiday)
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily (The artist may be away during breaks.)
Venue: Gallery 4, Onomichi City Museum of Art

Watch Motoi Yamamoto create a new work using salt.

• Free to attend
• No reservation required
• Exhibition admission required

Fragments of Memory Project

Jewelry-Making Workshop

Dates: September 20 (Sun) & September 21 (Mon, National Holiday)
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Last registration: 3:30 PM)
Venue: 2F Lobby, Onomichi City Museum of Art

Participation Fee: ¥1,000

Participants will create their own jewelry using salt from a work that collapsed during the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

Registration

• First come, first served on the day
• Limited advance reservations available
• Advance reservations open in early September

• Exhibition admission required

Learn more about the Fragments of Memory Project

Gallery Talk

(Presented by a Curator of the Onomichi City Museum of Art)

Dates: October 4 (Sun) & November 8 (Sun)
Time: 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

• Free to attend
• No reservation required
• Exhibition admission required

Returning to the Sea Project

Date & Time: Sunday, November 15
Reception: 3:00 PM
Program: 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Venue: Galleries 4 & 6, Onomichi City Museum of Art

Join the artist in dismantling the salt installation created for this exhibition and symbolically returning it to the sea of Onomichi. Participants may also take a portion of the salt home and return it to the sea at a later date if they wish.

• Free to attend
• No reservation required
• Exhibition admission required

Learn more about the Returning to the Sea Project